15137

WiSe 15/16: The Regulatory State in the 21st Century - Towards a new Paradigm?

Vincent Dreher

Comments

The subject of this course are the various facets of the modern regulatory state. The seminar will be divided into three parts, of which the first pursues two interrelated aims: for one we will track the emergence of the regulatory state. Starting with the 'agencification' of public tasks in the 1960s in the US, we will trace changes across the Western world towards Majone's seminal account of the EU as 'regulatory state' in the 1990s. At the same time, we will discuss the concomitant substantial alternations in the functions of the state: simply put, from the 'embedded liberalism' (Ruggie 1982) of the mid-20th century to the 'regulatory capitalism' (Levi-Faur 2005) of today. Then we will look at the real world and analyze how these changes played out, what impact they had and what unintended consequences came along. Therefore, the second part will give us the opportunity to look at different policy areas where the new regulatory regimes apply. At the domestic level, consumer protection and social policy will be of relevance. At the international level, trade and financial regulation will mark the areas of interest. In the third part, we will look at different manifestations of the regulatory state in the world. One session each will be dedicated to the US, the EU, Brazil and Singapore. We will identify instances of 'best practice', persistent shortcomings as well as outright failures. This seminar will provide a comprehensive overview of the state and its transformation in modern capitalism. Ultimately, we will gain insights concerning the state's more recent evolution: has there been a retreat of the state, a fundamental change in state functions or, to the contrary, a further extension of state power? close